The date is May 2nd, 1957. Stalin died only four years before and perestroika is still a long way off. However, the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, who is just 24, arrives in Moscow for an exceptional tour: he is the first North American musician to play behind the iron curtain. This is the story that Glenn Gould in Russia tells by revealing documents from the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that had remained classified for years. Witness accounts from musicians such as Ashkenazy and Rostropovitch, parts of the original recordings of Gould’s concerts in Moscow and Leningrad, as well as a recording that had never been released before of his lecture-recital in Leningrad make this an invaluable documentary revealing an aspect of Glenn Gould’s artistry that few people are aware of.
Beethoven, Missa Solemnis
With this majestic performance of Beethoven‘s Missa solemnis, Nikolaus Harnoncourt once again demonstrates why he is to be ranked as one of the very few truly significant musicians of our time. Created between 1819 and 1823, the Missa solemnis is the most extensive non-stage work that Beethoven wrote. This magnificent choral piece represented a great personal struggle for the composer, who famously inscribed the top of the score with the words “From the heart – may it return to the heart.” Tim Ashley, reviewing a repeat concert at London’s Barbican, wrote in The Guardian: “This shattering performance ranked among the greatest I have heard.”
The Colón Ring – Wagner in Buenos Aires
Is it really possible to stage Wagner’s Ring on a single day? The composer’s great-granddaughter, Katharina Wagner, who now runs the Bayreuth Festival, was keen to stage Cord Garben‘s abridged version of the cycle at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, but in the event things turned out rather differently. When she and her team arrived at the Colón, they found that the rehearsal conditions were not what they were expecting, and so she decided that the task should be entrusted to a different director. Valentina Carrasco took over at short notice and together with the singers and the set and costume designers she staged the Ring in a seven-hour version never previously seen – and all
on a single day! The present documentary provides a thrilling and visually memorable account of the long journey taken by this version from its inception to the first night.
Der Ring des Nibelungen in 7 hours
Is it possible to stage Wagner’s Ring on a single day? After a difficult production process, the Teatro Colón has triumphantly succeeded in bringing to life and to the stage the abridged version by pianist and conductor Cord Garben – clocking in at just under seven hours. With the help of a superlative cast of Wagner singers, director Valentina Carrasco, famous for her work with La Fura dels Baus, has transposed the plot into the 1970s – the period of Argentina’s military dictatorship. However, the music remains pure and majestic Wagner, skilfully and faithfully condensed into a revolutionary format. The documentary included provides a thrilling account of the epic creative journey that took
the Colón Ring from its inception to the opening night.
“Linda Watson‘s Brünnhilde outshines everything.” FAZ
“In the end the Wagner venture in Buenos Aires succeeded after all.” Die Welt
Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration
Tanglewood is one of the world’s most beloved music festivals and serves as the summer home for the famed Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). In a star-studded event featuring some of its most distinguished and longtime contributors, the prestigious Tanglewood Festival celebrated its 75th anniversary with an evening of sparkling music that will last in memory.
Schumann at Pier2
Schumann at Pier2 is not a usual concert film, it shows the 4 Symphonies of Schumann from a new perspective. Stars of the film are the conductor Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and it´s filmed at „Pier2“, a former dockyard in the harbour of Bremen. Where usually pop and rock concerts take place, the orchestra and the conductor work on Schumann´s 4 Symphonies and present it to a young audience. Beside the 4 Symphonies, a 98-minutes music film with Paavo Järvi, Schumann at Pier 2, is part of the 3 DVD-set. This documentary explains the whole idea behind the project and it contains footage from rehearsals, comments from Paavo Järvi about the symphonies and the interpretation, biographical information about R. Schumann and footage of musicians who explain and play key themes.
“Järvis Schumann is most notably extremly exciting, performed with a lot of enthusiasm.“ Fono Forum
„Since their great Beethoven-Cycle Paavo Järvi and the „Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie“ are one of the top ensembles.“ Crescendo
Bruckner, Symphony No. 4 “Romantic”, Symphony No. 7
Christian Thielemann is widely regarded as the leading Brucknerian of our age, and his performances with the Munich Philharmonic, of which he has been music director since 2004, enjoy cult status all around the globe. This DVD features Thielemann’s first-ever video recordings of Bruckner’s two most popular works, Symphonies No. 4 and No. 7, which he interprets as sublime cathedrals of late Romantic music, impressing his listeners in ways that few other conductors can.
Eugene Onegin
In his first year as Music Director of Valencia’s Palau de les Arts, the exciting young conductor Omer Meir Wellber scored a triumph with Tchaikovsky’s beloved opera Eugene Onegin. In Mariusz Trelinski’s timeless production, consisting of a series of surrealist tableaux of great suggestive beauty, he leads a dream team of rising opera stars headed by Artur Rucinski as Onegin and Kristine Opolais as Tatyana. “An ideally well-balanced vocal cast” (Die Welt).
Emmanuel Pahud´s tribute to Frederick the Great
Emmanuel Pahud, the Berliner Philharmoniker’s principal flautist, celebrates the 300th anniversary of Frederick the Great’s birth with a concert recorded in the Royal Theatre of Potsdam’s Neues Palais, one of the architectural gems erected by the Prussian king within the World Heritage palace ensemble of Sanssouci. Not only was Frederick an eminent ruler and philosopher, he was also a passionate flautist, a talented composer and patron of music, who appointed to his court such renowned musicians of his day as J. J. Quantz, C. P. E. Bach and Franz Benda. Accompanied by the Kammerakademie Potsdam directed by Trevor Pinnock Emmanuel Pahud performs works by these three composers together with a composition written by Frederick the Great himself.
Leonard Bernstein conducts Beethoven and Haydn
Beethoven’s String Quartet op. 135 was the last work he would complete before his death. Especially in the poignant slow movement, this otherworldy masterpiece can be read as the farewell music of a genius. In 1989, less than a year before his own death, Bernstein delivered a powerful and now legendary live performance of this work – transcribed for string orchestra and played by the Vienna Philharmonic. For the first time ever, this famous concert is now being released on DVD and Blu-ray. Another definitive Bernstein performance debuting now on both mediums is the enigmatic maestro’s reading of Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli, filmed live in concert at Ottobeuren in 1984, using to maximum effect the deeply impressive setting of the monastery’s magnificent Baroque basilica.